Check out this clearly detailed top ten tip reference guide to boost writing skills with your students. These ten hints have elaborations and are put in place to assist students in their timed writing activities. It can easily be presented to the whole class and then printed for each student and used as a reference as you transfer the accountability and ownership to the students.

Check out this fun and simple poster that is to be used as a reference guide for various signal words for writing and speaking strategies. The guide includes terminology associated with comparing, contrasting, causing, sequencing, and listing. Under each color-coded topic, there are a variety of words that can boost writing skills as well as oral presentation of thought. This can either be enlarged and posted in the classroom or copied and shared wit students as they take ownership over their own writing.

Check out this awesome tracker that students can take home and use throughout the week. Students are to have their parents sign off on their time spent reading as well the page numbers and book title. Each Monday students are to bring their bottom slips in for documentation purposes. This form is simple and user friendly and easily differentiated for students, groups, and grade levels!

The lessons in Dr. Seuss's Oh The Places You'll Go story are invaluable and offer a great text example of beginning with the end in mind as we think through our decisions. This fun and engaging lessons pushes students to identify various story elements such as theme, key ideas, textual based answers as well as creative writing based on text to self connections. Students will respond to a supplied prompt relating the story to the students and having them think about where they want to go! Included are instructions for the teacher, a sloppy-copy planning sheet and then 4 differentiated final copy templates in which the teacher can easily give different students one of the variety of templates that best fits the need of each student (there are version labels on the bottom right of each template). This has proven to be a great reflective process to use during the first week of teaching since it can be the driving force of motivation throughout the year; it can easily be used at any point that fits your schedule though! *Also an ideal way to infuse reading and writing, to celebrate Dr. Seuss's Birthday! W.2.3, W.2.5, W.3.1, W.3.2, W.3.3, W.4.1, W.4.2, W.4.3, W.4.4, W.5.1, W.5.2, W.5.3, W.5.4, W.6.1a, W.6.2, W.6.3, W.6.4, W.6.9, W.7.1, W.7.2, W.7.3, W.7.4, W.7.9, W.8.1, W.8.2, W.8.3, W.8.4, W.8.9, W.9-10.1, W.9-10.2, W.9-10.3, W.9-10.3a, W.9-10.4, W.11-12.1, W.11-12.2, W.11-12.3, W.11-12.9, W.3.1b, W.3.1c, W.3.1d

This awesome project allows students to collaborate as a business team and identify a need in their community. Students will write a business plan that forces the students to think about profits, supply, demand, consumers, markets, advertising and more! The file starts with a brainstorm, and then student think through various components and finishes with their formal write-up of the their plan. Attached is a step by step Lesson Plan for teachers. Also there are three variations of each page to allow for seamless differentiation.